Why is Roland Burris fighting so hard for Senate seat?

'Senator' a good line for mausoleum?Why is ROLAND BURRIS fighting so hard for the job? Some blame it on a giant ego; others point to his PROVEN RECORD of public service

DEANNA BELLANDI and JOHN O'CONNOR, Associated Press

Published 6:30 am, Friday, January 9, 2009

Photo: TED SCHURTER, STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER FILE

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Roland Burris, who lost his last four elections, salutes Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White at a reception in 2007 for new officials.

Roland Burris, who lost his last four elections, salutes Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White at a reception in 2007 for new officials.

Photo: TED SCHURTER, STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER FILE

Why is Roland Burris fighting so hard for Senate seat?

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CHICAGO — Roland Burris has erected a grand mausoleum for himself, carved with the words "TRAIL BLAZER" and a long list of his achievements, with a space left for his more recent accomplishments. That gap could soon be filled in with "U.S. senator."

The tomb is a monument to the ambition — some say egotism — that led him to accept what many regard as a tainted prize: an appointment to the Senate from scandal-ridden Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"Roland wants an office. It's another thing to chisel on his Ramses II pyramid," said Judy Baar Topinka, a former Illinois state treasurer and Republican candidate for governor. She added: "His ego is huge."

The 71-year-old Burris accepted the appointment with no publicly expressed reservations, despite charges that Blagojevich tried to sell the seat. And Burris fought for the seat after Senate Democrats vowed not to allow him to take office.

On Wednesday, the Senate leadership backed down, and it appears likely that he will be seated.

Burris can fairly call himself a trailblazer. The Democrat was the first black politician elected to major statewide office in Illinois, serving three terms as comptroller beginning in 1979 and a single term as attorney general in 1991.

But to many who know him, it is no surprise he accepted the Senate appointment. Some say he has a large ego, even by the outsized standards of politicians.

In addition to constructing a big mausoleum, he etched it with practically his entire résumé, recording, among other things, that he was the first black Southern Illinois University exchange student to the University of Hamburg in Germany and the first black national bank examiner for the U.S. Treasury Department.

In 1984, when he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate, he once mused: "Illinois is the Land of Lincoln. Maybe someday it will be the Land of Burris." He often speaks of himself in the third person. And he named his children Roland and Rolanda.

Win without running

Former Illinois Gov.
Jim Thompson
, a Republican, said it is not necessarily ego — but rather political calculation — driving Burris this time. He said the appointment is a chance for Burris to gain high political office without having to compete in an election, something Burris has not had much luck at since 1990. He has lost his last four elections: three tries for governor and one for Chicago mayor.

"He's got a chance to be one of 100 people in the world," Thompson said.

Burris' longtime friend and consulting business partner Fred Lebed said Burris simply wants to serve his country and the people of Illinois. "We all have egos. This is definitely not his motivation. It is truly about public service," Lebed said.

Burris has denied making any kind of corrupt bargain with Blagojevich to secure the appointment. And by nearly all accounts, he served ably and honestly during his many years in Illinois state government, though not entirely without controversy.

He was criticized in the early 1990s for fighting to preserve the conviction of Rolando Cruz, a man sentenced to die for the slaying of a 10-year-old girl. Cruz eventually was exonerated after 12 years behind bars. His was one of the cases cited when then-Gov. George Ryan emptied death row and put a moratorium on executions.

But Burris' decades of public service have also earned him praise.

His old boss, former Gov. Dan Walker, wrote a letter published in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune that credited Burris with helping to save taxpayers money by modernizing the state Department of General Services in the 1970s.

"Ignored are the praise often accorded Roland for his job performance and the fact that he has emerged from many years of service with character unblemished," Walker wrote.